10 DStv series that beat the back-to-work blues

News 01 January 2026

Die Kantoor and nine more series that’ll turn you into a workaholic in January 2026!

10 DStv series that beat the back-to-work blues

We just blinked and the holidays were over! But never fear, because DStv is here to take the sting out of back-to-work season in January 2026.

Along with Die Kantoor – the eagerly awaited South African version of classic comedy series The Office – we’ve given a back-to-work order to nine shows, including all your favourite Chicago series: Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD. We’re also hitting the books with a brand-new spinoff series, The Librarians: The Next Chapter, and it’s all aboard with the rich and bored in a new season of Below Deck Down Under.

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PS: When we say Happy New Year, we mean it! DStv’s Upsize campaign is giving Compact and Compact Plus active subscribers access to every DStv Premium channel until midnight on 31 January 2026. Now let’s get to work on discovering more new series than ever before!

DStv’s 10 back-to-work series for January 2026

The Office and other friends from work

Die Kantoor

South Africa’s official adaptation of The Office has arrived! Deep in industrial Klerksdorp, you’ll find Deluxe Processed Meats, a place where dreams settle, ambitions stall, and polony – the flat, pink meat treat – rules the day. At the centre: Flip Bosman (Albert Pretorius), Interim Manager, self-appointed visionary, and devoted disciple of Rassie Erasmus. Flip believes he’s living his own Chasing the Sun. Everyone else in the office believes they’re just trying to survive eight hours without throttling each other.

Stream Die Kantoor Season 1 from Sunday, 18 January at 8PM on kykNET Channel 144. Also on Showmax from Tuesday, 20 January.

The Office

In this award-winning American spin-off of British comedy The Office, a documentary crew settles in for the long haul to follow the daily ins-and-out at paper company Dunder Mifflin. We see ordinary office life play out with all its friendships, cliques, pranks, flirtations, petty feuds, intrigues and office politicking. Meanwhile, the office and warehouse staff give added perspective and insight through interview segments that often expose the gulf between who people think they are, and how they behave.

Binge The Office Season 1-9 on Showmax.

The Paper

In this mockumentary comedy series, the documentary team that brought us The Office are bedding down at a new workplace: the Toledo Truth Teller, a newspaper that’s struggling to stay afloat in our “print is dead” era. They’ve arrived just in time to meet the Toledo Truth Teller’s new editor-in-chief, Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleason), as this former toilet paper salesman steps into his first day on the job, unseating the current managing editor, Esmeralda Grand (Sabrina Impacciatore).

Binge The Paper Season 1 on DStv Stream and on Showmax.

One Chicago: Just doing our jobs, ma’am

Chicago Med

There’s plenty of excitement to pull us into a new year at Gaffney. Dorris is ED Charge Nurse following Maggie’s (Marlyne Barrett) resignation; Naomi Howard (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) is back as a general surgery resident; 64-year-old Dr Archer (Steven Weber) has to work his head around becoming a dad now that Dr Asher (Jessy Schram) is pregnant; and there’s more baby news from Will (Nick Gehlfuss) and Natalie (Torrey DeVito) when Will drops by in episode 2.

Stream Chicago Med Season 11 from Tuesday, 6 January at 8PM on M-Net Channel 101.

Chicago Fire

Chief Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) leads Firehouse 51’s heroic firefighters and paramedics. There’s smoke in the firehouse as budget cuts strike, and recruit Sal Vasquez (Brandon Larracuente), the son of a former Chicago PD who was accused of faking evidence, gets cheeky with Stella (Miranda Rae Mayo), while Stella gets shocking news about her pregnancy. And there’s friction between newly promoted lieutenant Mouch (Christian Stolte) and Hermann (David Eigenberg), who’s getting in the way of paperwork.

Watch Chicago Fire Season 14 from Monday, 5 January at 8PM on M-Net Channel 101.

Chicago PD

The Intelligence Unit has been disbanded, but a crime spike inspires now-patrol sergeant Voight (Jason Beghe) to get the team back together. A homicide and a kidnapping close to home puts Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar), Burgess (Marina Squerciati) and Ruzek’s (Patrick John Flueger) neighbours on the suspect list. And Voight’s own past comes under investigation this season when he receives childhood photographs of himself in hospital as an abused child, along with a warning to retire or be exposed.

Watch Chicago PD Season 13 from Wednesday, 7 January at 8PM on M-Net Channel 101.

Dream job, nightmare clients

The Librarians: The Next Chapter

In this spinoff of the hit action-adventure fantasy series, Vikram Chamberlain (Callum McGowan), a time-travelling librarian from 1847 who has sworn to protect magical artefacts, is released in present-day Serbia. He must lead a new team of adventurers – including physicist Dr Lysa Pascal (Olivia Morris), conspiracy theorist podcaster Connor Green (Bluey Robinson), and Guardian Charlie Cornwall (Jessica Green) – to fix the chaos he unleashed, which is spreading magic across Europe. Workplace confidentiality has never been more essential!

Watch The Librarians: The Next Chapter Season 1 from Sunday, 4 January at 6:20PM on Universal TV DStv Channel 117.

The Franchise

Comedy inspired by the lives of producer-directors Sam Mendes and Armando Iannuci (Veep). Come behind the scenes on the making of the fictional “Maximum Studios” superhero movie Tecto: Eye of the Storm. It’s the ugly stepchild to the studio’s golden child movie, Centurios 2, which is clearly sucking up all their love, money and attention. The Franchise digs into the awkward politics of making a film while you’re a small cog in a massive machine – like first assistant director Dan (Himesh Patel).

Watch The Franchise Season 1 from Wednesday, 14 January at 10PM on M-Net Channel 101. Binge The Franchise Season 1 on Showmax.

Below Deck Down Under

Reality. Some of us have to work while others enjoy an eternal sunshine holiday. Welcome aboard the superyacht Katina, with Captain Jason Chambers and his multi-national crew, including South African newcomer, Bosun Wihan du Toit – who’s in for a bit of a rough crossing this season. The voyage starts in the Seychelles and there’s no shortage of drama, from head chef Tzarina Mace-Ralph tackling a maggot infestation in the galley, to deckhand Harry Van Vliet’s jet ski accident.

Binge Below Deck Down Under Season 3 at 6:10PM from Sunday, 18 January on Bravo Channel 124.

All Creatures Great and Small

Period drama. Darrowby is in an uproar as victory in Europe is declared in May 1945. But for country vet James Herriot (Nicholas Ralph), the battle continues as he juggles animal care with a busy family life and the challenge of being around his eccentric boss, Siegfried Farnon (Samuel West), as Siegfried’s brother Tristan (Callum Woodhouse) returns from the battlefield. It’s up to housekeeper Mrs Hall (Anna Madely) to restore unity and harmony at the surgery and at Skeldale House.

Stream All Creatures Great and Small Season 6 from Sunday, 4 January at 8PM on BBC Brit Channel 120.

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